Just Some Guy
by sambas
Summary: 200 years after the war.Anto is a just trying to live a normal life in a not so normal world.A world where the One is missing,a hopeless war rages,and tensions are rising.He's just trying to survive high school.But will the world catch up with him?
1. 37 Winks

Authors Note: if things seem confusing, just hang in there. All your questions will be answered.

I own nothing

Chapter One

"BEEP!-BEEP!-BEEP!-BEEP!" went the alarm clock.

Anto awoke with a start.

He was breathing fast, heart pounding, as if he had just run a mile, and felt disorientated, as if he had woken up in a different place then he fallen asleep.

"Anto, time to get up, its 7!" called a voice from downstairs.

He had been having _the _Dream again, the strange dream he had had been having periodically for the past 15 years. A dream that he never fully remembered, but always seemed tantalizingly familiar. A steamy jungle, a huge city, the ocean. Sometimes the outline of a head. Memories of strange people. Nothing else. It all seemed so familiar, as if he had been there just the day before.

"Com-cough- coming" Anto called back. His voice had cracked, and he was embarrassed to let anyone hear it. He lifted his head above the covers for a moment, but the bitter cold drove him back.

"_No way am I getting up"_ he thought defiantly. _"She's gonna have to get a bulldozer first"_

Moments later, his mom ascended the stairs and entered Anto's room.

"Aw Mom, what have I told you about privacy" Anto snapped. He had had this conversation _too many times!_

"Now, Anto, feet on the floor, lets go, you'll be late for school" Anto's Mom retorted wearily.

Reluctantly, Anto, slipped his large feet from beneath the covers, planting them on the floor near the futon were he slept. The rest of his body remained beneath the covers in protest. Anto hated mornings.

Mom smiled and shook her head as she left the room "Very funny, Anto, lets go, your sisters already up"

Anto groaned. _"Here we go with Kanna again"_ He angrily smashed the button on the top of the still-beeping clock, swept back the curtain to his room , and headed towards the bathroom. Had Anto not seen this wretched thing every morning, he would have noticed it was not a "normal' clock. Its LED screen, instead of showing digital numbers, projected the image of a horizontal bar, divided into twelve connected boxes. Right now, seven of boxes had lit up interiors, from left to right.

Anto entered the bathroom, and looked his image in the mirror. Sea blue eyes, set in a smooth, coppery-brown colored face peered back at him: Anto's mother had told him that he had inherited the subtle handsomeness his ancestors, who were displayed prominently from photographs and painting throughout the house. Anto, the pessimist that he was, doubted it.

He sighed, as he pulled a bit of his chin-length brown hair into a short ponytail at the back of his head, as the men of his nation had done for centuries. However, the sides of his head were not shaven, as was the ancient tradition of the Southern Water Tribe. Only soldiers did that anymore.

As he got ready for the day, typical teenager thoughts flitted through his head

"_Why can't I talk to girls?"_ Anto thought despairingly as he brushed his teeth. _"Despite everything, Mitzue has no trouble"_

"_Could it be that your big ears interfere with your brain?"_ said a mocking voice in his head. Anto studied his ears in alarm, rubbing them with his hands.

"_Nah, don't listen to your sister_" responded another, louder voice.

"_She just thinks she's special because of her "gift". She's spoiled from all the attention Mom and Dad give her"_

At the thought of his father, Anto snapped out of this mental debate and went back to his room to get dressed, the light pants and top failing to keep him warm.

Anto's mother rushed around the kitchen, preparing breakfast. Greasy pancakes bubbled on the stove located in the center of the small kitchen. She was just about to flip them when her daughter turned on the small TV sitting on the counter, and began to push buttons. Scenes from various programs flashed for an instant a crossed the screen.

"You know the rules Kanna, no TV during breakfast" the 10 year old was looking for her favorite cartoon.

"Aw, but Mom, my show!" she wined, letting the TV come to rest on a half-track commercial.

"No buts, young lady, now shut that off right now or"- she stopped. The News had begun.

"Good Morning, Hero City" said a cheery voice. A moment later, a smiling man was shown on the screen, wearing a garment that looked like a cross between a suit and a robe. Sitting next to him was a slightly paler woman in a kimono. In front of them sat a pile of pale yellow paper.

"What's going on today Hanta?" asked the woman.

"Hang on tight Kai, because were going… Around The World!!!" shouted the beaming man, spinning in his swivel chair. This was their normal routine. The channel had jumped the shark long ago.

The man cleared his throat, picked up the papers, and began to read.

"The Chief of the Alliance of Polar States declared today from North Capitol that he intends to stick with his controversial plan to step up military aid to the Earth Kingdom in its civil war against the Southern League"

On the screen, soldiers dressed in green camo and wearing wide-brimmed helmets marched in line down a road towards a burning town. Emblazoned on their helmets was the image of a gold circle with a square hole in its center. Except for the man, the leader, in front, all were armed with rifles and short swords. The leader was armed with nothing, and was wearing no shoes.

"The League, led by General Hao Bei Fong, has been fighting a bloody war against the central government for the past 5 years" the newscaster continued.

"Specifically mentioned in the Chief's address was the increase in bombing runs on major League cities, especially the Separatist capitol of Omashu"

On the screen, huge blue-gray jets were shown being loaded with bombs and taxiing down runways.

Kanna began "Mom, is that the kind of plane tha-"

"Shhh!"

Now the women spoke

"In other news, the reparation project of South Capitol is facing more delays. The severe damage done to the Eastern portion of the country has resulted in a severe shortage of construction supplies and equipment. The Council of Domestic Affairs predicts that at this rate, the damage done by the tidal wave will not be completed for another 3 years."

The screen showed an aerial view of a heavily damaged city. The streets and canals were strewn with debris, trash, and wrecked vehicles. Buildings near the coast were completely destroyed, and a huge ship was beached in the middle of a road. In some places, hoards of construction workers and heavy machinery were busily repairing canals and building, and tearing down others that were unstable. A large stone building was being patched up by a worker bending water on to cracks and freezing it.

"Oh spirits, the blubber cakes" cursed Mom. The pancake things had begun to burn. A s she rushed to get them off the stove; Anto trudged down the stairs and entered the kitchen.

"Good, morning Anto" said Mom as she extinguished the flaming cakes, flipped some that were the least burned onto a wooden tray and set them on the low breakfast table.

Anto surveyed the room. Mom, face glistening with sweat, the burned cakes, Kanna frantically switching the channels on the TV, spilling juice all over the table.

"Uh, good morning too Mom" he said, shrugging. Bending down to the table, he grabbed one of the greasy, burned cakes in a rag, and headed for the door.

Mom sighed.

"Aren't you going to sit down and eat?" she asked wearily, turning off the TV. Kanna whined.

"No, sorry, I've got to meet Mitzue at the canal before school" responded Anto, through a mouth full of blubber cake. He began to put on his leather boots sitting near the door.

"Here, have some juice before you go" said Kanna, giving him a mischievous look. She swept her arms in the air, and some of the spilled liquid flew off the table towards him. Anto ducked. The juice missed him and splashed onto the door.

"You little brat!!" he shouted, heading for her, fists raised.

"Kanna, _how many_ times do I have to tell you, no Waterbending in the house!" Mom shouted.

Anto, seeing his chance, slid the door open, grabbed his satchel, and ran out onto the street towards the canal.

Return to Top


	2. Detours

Sorry about the name changes, I had to revise my idea for where the story is going, Also, some minor changes were made to the original chapter. You may want to go back and re-read it. Again, my apologies. Not that it matters, since no one has been reading my story. "sigh" well, here's chapter 2 anyways.

Once again, I own nothing

Chapter 2

Anto and his family lived in on of many row apartment houses near the edge of Hero City. Each apartment was two stories tall, and cramped together, so from one end of the street to the other was one uninterrupted wall, with only doors and windows placed at even intervals to break the monotony. The houses all had stoops that led right down to the sidewalk. Next to the sidewalk was a two lane road, and beyond that was a canal, about 20 feet bellow ground level. (think of the northern water tribe city). On the opposite side of the canal was a similar street. On this morning, the neighborhood was peaceful, with just the sound of water from the adjacent canal, the cooing of arctic pigeons on the roofs, and the distant rumble of traffic to disturb its tranquility. The canal and road were empty, with vehicles in sight, with the exception of a small Earth Kingdom takeout delivery van parked down the street on the side of the road near a street lamp that looked like a totem pole.

The door of a house near the middle of the block slid open, and Anto stepped out onto the stoop of his house, breathing a sigh of relief. Since it was the arctic equivelant of summer, he was dressed relatively light, wearing just boots, jeans, and a blue hooded sweatshirt.

"_That was close_" he said, chucking the remainder of the burnt blubber cake into the street. "Almost had to suffer through another one of Mom's depressing early morning speeches" he said in a voice mocking his mother "_Anto, do good in school, Anto look both ways before you cross the street, Anto remember to breath. She is such a wet blanket_."

Anto suddenly felt bad for mocking his mother. After all, she had been through a lot recently, they all had.

"beep-beep-beep"

"Will I be cursed to by beeps forever!?" Anto said desperately, fishing the beeping cell phone from his pocket. The phone looked like a generic flip-cam phone, but where the number pads should be was a circle, like the touch wheel of an iPod, with the characters for each number etched into it in a clockwise formation. The top had an old gray and black LCD screen, which announced that Anto had received a text message from a person named Mitzue.

It contained only one word. "Hurry"

"I'm coming, _your majesty_" Anto spat. Mitzue was know for 3 thing. His arrogance, his good looks and his ways with with women. By the ninth grade, he had already had at least 5 serious relationships with, and to many flings to count. These to factors earned him several nicknames from his disgruntled colleagues, the least profane being "The Prince". Mitzue thought that was fitting, because he also claimed to have descended from royalty. He might be arragagant at times, but Mitzue was a good and loyal friend to Anto. This was just as well, because Anto was his only true friend. Or guy friend, at least.

Anto shoved the phone back into his bag, grabbed his skidboard, and threw it onto the snow covered side walk 4 steps bellow. As it was still moving, Anto leapt of the stoop and landed on the boards back as it hit the ground, and immediately fell onto his backwards and into a deep snow bank as the board flew out from underneath him.

Anto groaned from deep within a snow bank. "I hate mornings" he said angrily to himself. Praying that no one had seen his blunder, he fought his way out of the drift, checked his bag and went to retrieve the missing skidboard. A normal skidboard was a cross between a skateboard and a snowboard, which had rollers attached to the bottom for times when there was little or no snow. Its center section was collapsible like a telescope, so that it could shrink from its normal 4 feet long, to a more manageable 1 and a half for storage. They were normally made of plastic or fiberglass. "The perfect tool for the Water Tribe boy on the go" the advertisements proclaimed.

On closer examination, Anto realized that his rogue board was, indeed a board, or rather, a piece of wood, likely from a nearby construction site.

"Oh, crap, someone stole my skidboard!" Anto moaned in horror. The skidboard was Anto's most prized possessions. He always kept it chained to the railing, but that didn't seem to have helped much now, the chain now lay unlocked on the steps.

In anguish Anto examined the piece of wood again, and discovered that a note was tacked to it. The note said in impeccably good calligraphy

"Sorry, had to borrow your board-Mitzue"

This was written in a speech bubble coming from a chibi drawing that looked like Mitzue's head. The chibi was wearing an impish grin that stretched from ear to ear. It has to be said that Mitzue was surprisingly good at drawing chibi's.

"That son of a -"Anto began, but his curse was cut short by a shrill whistle coming from the canal. The 7'30 ferry was leaving from it's mooring down the street. Anto threw the piece of wood into the canal, gathered his bag, and ran down the street at top speed to catch the ferry. He barely noticed the takeout van suddenly cough to life, and zoom down the street ahead of him.

Anto ran down the stairs and jumped the turnstile leading to the canal-side were the ferry was moored. But he was too late; the boat was already heading down the canal at. It didn't get very far: a stalled barge blocked its path down the canal 50 yards away.

In anguish, Anto kicked a glass bottle into the water. So close.

"_Now what_?" Anto thought. He had reached the point were he didn't even care anymore.

"_There's no way I'll make it to school in time_"

Normally, he wouldn't mind, but if he was late again, he would be suspended for 2 days. His mom would be not be pleased, to say the least, and she had already threatened to trash his skidboard if he got in trouble again.

"_Not that it matters now_" he said to himself gloomily, remembering the stolen board.

He planned to continue moping for a few more moments, and then head to school and try to brownnose his way out of trouble. But his plans were suddenly interrupted by a fat security guard. The guard's uniform was covered with grease; his face was unshaven, and smelled heavily of cigarettes

"Excuse me" the guard growled. "Unless you want to pay a fine, I suggest you get that bottle out of the water right now. Don't you care about how your city looks?"

"_You obviously don't_" he thought angrily to himself as he retrieved the bottle, which was floating near the shore.

"Thank you" the guard said curtly as Anto tossed the bottle into a trash can.

"Anytime" Anto replied venomously as the guard walked away to scold another litterbug.

He as just about to leave when something in the water caught his eye. It was the piece of wood. Anto retrieved it, looked down the canal one last time, and out of nowhere a plan came into his head. He ran back up the stairs and up to street level, heading along the sidewalk.

The ferry was still stuck, directly under a power line that crossed the canal.

"_This had better work_" Anto thought nervously. He jumped onto some wooden boxes near the water, and then onto the top of a closed newspaper booth. He straddled the board over the wire, grasping its sides, making a sort of zip line. Bystanders stopped to look at him in confusion.

"Here goes, nothing!" he said aloud. Taking a deep breath, he jumped off the top of the booth and slid down wire. He sped over the water, holding onto the board for dear life. When he was above the upper deck of the ferry, he let go of the board, landing on his rear, and slid a crossed the deck and under the side railing. Somehow, he managed to grab a hold of the railing with his arms, his legs dangling over the side of the ferry.

"That was quite a detour young man, are you OK" a bearded old man exclaimed in surprise. Anto grabbed onto the man's outstretched hand and pulled himself up.

"Never better" he replied happily. Anto was elated. He had made it. For once, his crazy scheme hadworked perfectly. Almost perfectly

"Dammit!" he groaned as he smacked his forehead in frustration. He left his school bag on the sidewalk.

Anto made his way a crossed the open top deck and down teh stairs that led to the lower, searching for Mitzue. The ferry, as usual, was crowded with commuters on there way to work or school in the City. Anto reached into his pocket for his phone, but remembered that he had put it in his bag just before his zip line escapade. He was about to continue his search, but at that moment, a tall, fierce looking girl from his school approached him. She did not look happy.

The girl grabbed him by his pony tail thing, and shoved him against the wall.

"Where is he!" she said, giving Anto a look that could have frozen water.

Anto winced and slowly replied. "Who, Mitzue? That's what I'd like to know" he tried to loosen her grip around his wolftail, but she only tightened it.

The fierce girl pulled his hair higher; dragging him up the wall "You let him know that Kona is looking for him. He'll know what you mean"

"Y-Y-Yes, I'll tell him. Now could you please..." he said, gesturing towards his hair.

The girl somehow intensified her glare, released him, and stormed off in search of her prey.

"I'd better find Mitzue before _she _does" he thought anxiously, massaging his scalp.


	3. Rush Hour

I don't own anything except my original ideas. Everything else belongs to Paramount Pictures.

Chapter 3

Anto stepped out onto the exterior deck of the ferry, and continued his search. There were only a handful of people here, most huddled behind walls or bulkheads to escape the bitter wind-chill. The deck was open to the environment and very breezy. Even on the warmest of days few people could stand to sit there, even the hardy residents of the South Pole. Unless of course, the interior was crammed with commuters.

Anto's diligence did not go un-rewarded: sitting on a bench near the bow, head hidden behind a newspaper, sat Mitzue, jean clad legs stretched out sideways on the bench... Anto did not even have to see his face to know it was him. Only Mitzue would sit, or rather _lounge_ like that in public. Occasionally, he would peep his bright yellow eyes above the paper to ogle a gorgeous girl wearing a tight, pale green sweatshirt taking shelter from the wind behind a large bulkhead, chatting animatedly to a friend on her cell phone.

"You certainly are a hard man to find" Anto said cheerfully, plopping himself down besides him on the bench as Mitzue moved his legs.

"Hey!" he said shouted, suddenly angrily, hands spread in the traditional 'what gives" position. He had just remembered that he was supposed to be angry at Mitzue.

"Do you know what I've put up with to-?

"Shhh…" Mitzue hissed softly.

The girl had realized she was being observed, and looked at Mitzue, rubbing her foot against the deck shyly.

Anto, quietly fuming, observed Mitzue partake in his favorite hobby.

Mitzue looked over the top of the paper at the girl, and gave her a suave wink.

The jumped up and down, giggling, and began talking rapidly into the phone, shooting him gleeful looks. This was typical: most girls didn't even have to see Mitzue's face, and they were already hooked.

Mitzue made his next move.

"Hey gorgeous" he purred, lowering the paper, fixing one of his trademark grins on his handsome face. "What'cha doing put here in the cold, come on over here and sit next to me."

He shoved an unsuspecting Anto off the bench and onto the floor and patted the now vacant seat at his left. Anto lay sprawled on the deck, shooting Mitzue a venomous look. Both the girl and Mitzue ignored him.

The girls trance ended with a glimpse of Mitzue's face. Her own suddenly showed disgust and she headed towards a door to the interior, phone still glued to her ear.

"Dammit" he cursed. "She couldn't be that shallow."

"Maybe she thinks you're a jerk for shoving me" Anto said angrily, gingerly lowering his rear onto the bench.

"No, no, it's not that…" he said, distracted.

"Maybe you're losing your touch" Anto suggested, rolling his eyes. As if. He knew the real reason that the girl had left, but didn't mention it.

"No, it's not that" Mitzue said finally "She's just a stuck-up, racist bi-

A piece of wet newspaper blowing through the wind smacked into his face, conveniently ended his vulgar statement.

Mitzue angrily pealed the soggy paper off his face and threw it into the water.

"Well, there are plenty of fish in the sea" he said flatly, looking only slightly crestfallen.

"Yeah, who needs a jerk like her?" Anto piped in encouragingly.

"Yeah..." Mitzue said slowly.

There was a long silence.

"Oh I just remembered" Mitzue said abruptly, grabbing a cardboard cup holder containing a pair of Styrofoam cups. "Try this"

Mitzue handed Anto a warm cup. "It's from _Ze old country"_ (Mitzue said this with a Russian-sounding accent)

Anto, giving Mitzue a skeptical look, slowly took a sip of the warm brown liquid, and promptly spit it out over the side.

"Ughh, it tastes like dirt" Anto said in disgust, wiping his tongue. "What is it?"

"It's called, _coffee_, my grandma got a package from her cousin in Naha and has been brewing it all week" Mitzue said cheerfully, taking a sip of his own drink. "I take it you didn't like my ethnic brew?"

"That's saying it politely" Anto said in disgust, dumping the vile liquid into the canal. "What do you have?"

"Oh, the usual, jasmine tea" Mitzue said, taking another sip. "I can't stand _that_ stuff"

They sat in silence for a few moments, Mitzue leisurely sipping his tea, Anto trying to get the taste of the "coffee" out of his mouth.

"Oh, I just remembered" Mitzue said suddenly. He reached onto the floor and retrieved Anto's skidboard, strapped into a shoulder travel harness.

"Why did you just _take it!" _Anto exclaimed in frustration, as he examined his precious possession. "you know I would have let you barrow it"

"Didn't have the time, my friend" Mitzue replied simply. "I saw an opportunity, and had to take advantage as soon as possible. And man, what an opportunity"

"What was this "opportunity?" Anto asked, making air quotes with his fingers.

"There was this girl, called me over to her house, parents were out of town, and-

"Spare me the details" Anto interrupted warily, slipping the board into its shoulder harness, and setting it on his lap. _"Mitzue's getting lucky, and I can't even talk to Ji"_

To take of Mitzue's score, and how the couldn't even speak to the girl of his dreams, Anto examined his board for the 100th time. It was an Avalanche 4, a top of the line board made in the Water Colonies, and very expensive. Anto had received it from his father for his 16th birthday, an important year in the life of a Water Tribe boy, and his father thought it deserved a special gift. 16 was the year he would have been considered a Man 150 years ago. It would have allowed, allowing him to hunt with the other men, fight in a war, and even get married.

Now it only meant that he could drive a boat with a parent, and buy M rated video games.

The ferry worked its way deeper and deeper into center of Hero City, located near the coast. It was the second largest in the South Pole, with a population of around 100,000. Barges, ice junks, police corvettes, charters, other ferries and private boats clogged the canal. On the bridges and roads near the canal, cars, buses, trucks, vans and half-tracks crawled through the rush hour traffic, horns blaring. Buildings lined the streets containing stores, apartments, offices and fast food restaurants. Here and there a taller building rose above the sprawl. In the distance of to the west, oil refineries and factories ran along the waterfront.

From Anto's seat, he could just see a magnificent statue near the ocean, standing 25 stories tall, towering over almost every other building in the city. Mounted on a huge granite base stood two bronze figures, the greatest heroes the nation had ever seen. A massive teenage Katara stood majestically, a determined look on her metal face. Standing next to her, one arm on her shoulder, stood Sokka, staring resolutely out over the ocean, boomerang in at his side. This city was build on the village that Katara and Sokka had been born and grown up in, before embarking on their world-saving quest with the Last Avatar.

This sight had long ago stopped impressing Anto. It actually made him fell depressed. But Katara's statue made Anto think off the girl that had offended Mitzue. The reason that she been disgusted by Mitzue after seeing his face was a problem that been facing many of his people recently. Mitzue's family was from the Fire Nation. His great-great-grandfather had, like many others from his country, come to the Water Tribe (when it was still called that) soon after the Great War in an effort to make amends for what his country had done. He felt especially bad for what his father, a very, very, _very_ high ranking general-of-sorts in the Fire Nation government, had done to the country during the war. Years later he would claim to have actually come to find "The women who stole my heart", a woman who was a native of this icy land whom he had briefly met during the war. One day as he was overseeing the construction of a railroad bridge, a lunchbox fell from an array of scaffolding, crushing his hand. While he was in the hospital, he met another long lost friend who performed the surgery on his hand (she was, apparently, very good with knives), and they fell in love. Anyways, they got married, had some kids and chose not to return to their turbulent homeland, instead, choosing to live in the Fire Nation region of the swelling village-cum-metropolis, Hero City.

Because of recent events that had occurred between the Fire Nation and the Alliance of Polar States, the general acceptance of Fire Nation immigrants that had grown over the years was being strained to its limits, as the very real possibility of war between the nations loomed on the horizon. The diplomatic troubles between the twon countries didn't help the spirits of a people already suffering from a useless war that had already claimed the lives of over 5000 young men, and a tidal wave that had destroyed one of their greatest cities. Discrimination against Fire Nation residents was on the rise, as people vented their frustrations on an innocent minority. Water tribe citizens and Earth Kingdom immigrants stopped seeing their Fire Nation friends. Fire Nation businesses like Mitzue's father's suffered. There were reports in the news of Fire Nation immigrants being attacked in the streets. It was now quite dangerous for such immigrants to stray far from their enclaves, but Mitzue had steadfastly refused to stop living a normal life for such stupid reasons. Because of this, he was one of the last Fire Nation immigrants to go to Anto's high school. Mitzue was at an increased risk to prejudice because he happened to be one of the few-

Mitzue signed, tossed his cup onto the floor, and pulled a cigarette out of the chest pocket of his hoody. Holding it in his left hand, he snapped the fingers of his right one. There was a flash of fire between his fingers, and the end of the cigarette lit. He stuck it in his mouth, took a drag, and coughed.

"Put that out you idiot" Anto said angrily "Don't you know what those things do to you?"

"So what?" Mitzue said hoarsely, coughing again "It's not like its illegal"

"Yeah, for now it isn't"

Anto plucked the cigarette from Mitzue mouth, and tossed it overboard.

"Hey, that was my last one!" Mitzue responded crossly, patting his pockets.

"And it better stay that way!" Anto snapped "What a waste of your talents. Not everyone of your race can conjure fire with their hands. Look at me, I can't control water, and even my 8 year old sister can do that. You don't know how lucky you are"

"Yeah, right" Mitzue replied slowly, voice full of smoldering anger "Lucky"

He was pointing to the badge that that was sown onto the chest of his dark blue shirt. It was an emblem of a red and orange art-deco flame, like on the Fire Nation's Flag, outlined in yellow. Mitzue crossed his arms, and stared out at the floor.

Anto felt horrible. He had totally forgotten the decree that required all firebenders to wear such a mark at all times, or face immediate arrest, and how the bearers of these marks were ridiculed and mistreated for it. The edict came immediately after the mysterious bombing of the _Javelin_, a destroyer in the APS Navy, with all available evidence pointing towards Fire Nation involvement. The brand was a constant humiliation to Mitzue, a very severe part of life for such a social person.

Even though Anto felt as if he had an entire shoe store lodged in his mouth, did not say anything else to Mitzue or anyone for the rest of the commute. Anto had never before been so relieved to see the ferry dock near the school approach.

**Authors Note**- Sorry for the delay in this update. We can't all be "Rasputin Zeros". (A paper airplane with the UK flag on it appears out of nowhere and hits the author in the nose) Ouch!,hey I meant that in the most respectful way possible! Anyways, I also want to apologize for the rather copious amounts of "fluff" that this chapter contains. Im just trying to build up the backstory. I promise the next chapter will have much more Sokka-esque slapstick humor that everyone knows and loves. Just be patient, I don't know exactly what will be in chapter 4 (Heh..Heh.., ugh) But I will be great!!... Yeah.


	4. Close Encounter

Chapter 4

Aang sat patiently, legs crossed, in the middle of a vast, flat desert valley, interrupted only by the occasional scrubby bush eking out a pitiful existence. A cool wind blew from a long mountain range in the west, blowing against his pastel-colored robe. Clutched in his hands was a small wooden flute.

Sokka, Toph and Katara approached the peaceful monk from their enormous furry mount.

"What's out here?" the teenage boy asked, gesturing to the vast wasteland.

"A lot actually" answered Toph, setting her hand to the earth "there's hundreds of little-

"Shhh" Aang interrupted "I know you can see underground but don't ruin the surprise."

Aang put the flute to his lips, and blew a single low note.

Immediately, a prairie dog-like animal popped its head out of a nearby hole, mimicked the noise, and then disappeared back into the ground.

He blew another, squeakier note, and another prairie dog appeared from a different hole, and did the same. Momo dove into the hole in pursuit of the rodent. His long eared head emerged a moment later from a nearby hole.

Aang blew several more notes, and in response, prairie dogs popped up to serenade the gang with their imitation of the sounds.

Aang spread out his arms in triumph "Yeah!, I'm putting an orchestra together!"

Sokka was skeptical as usual. "Orchestra huh?" he said disdainfully "well la-di-dah"

Immediately, three prairie dogs appeared and mimicked Sokka's melody.

Aang was about to continue his symphony when Sokka rushed over to him a plugged one of his long fingers into the instrument. "This is great and all, but don't we have more important things two worry about" Sokka said. He pounded his fist into his palm "we should be making plans"

Toph rolled her unseeing eyes "We did make plans, were all taking-

"KANNA!!"

"What!?, I can't hear the TV!" Kanna shouted to her mother in annoyance.

"Are you ready for school? Were going to be late!" her mother yelled from upstairs

"YES1" Kanna responded, attention returning to the cartoon characters on screen.

"BOOK BAG?!"

"YEAH!"

"LUNCH?

"YEAH

"WASHING MACHINE?"

"UH-HUH"

"So you've got everything?" Mom said as she came down the stairs into the living room, fitting a contact into her left eye. She was dressed up more then usual, wearing a light blue outfit that looked like a modern version of quifoa.

"Yes"

"You're sure?"

"Ye-es" Kanna responded, rolling her eyes.

"Well then come on" Mom said, glancing at the clock "Were going to be late!"

"I'm coming, I'm coming" Kanna said crossly, getting up from the couch.

"We'll all finish our mini vacations and then find Sokka's "intelligence" said Katara's voice from the speakers just before Kanna shut off the TV and headed into the kitchen.

Kanna stepped into the kitchen. "What's with the dress?" she asked, observing her mother's formal attire

"I told you, I have a job interview today, and you've got a field trip, how could you forget?" she said impatiently, heading for the door.

"Why can't you work at the hospital anymore?" Kanna asked innocently.

Mom stopped dead in her tracks. "Well…" Mom said uncomfortably.

_Should I tell her?_ "Well… because they don't need me there anymore"

"Why?" Kanna asked again.

"It doesn't matter, now come on-, whoa!" Mom slipped in a puddle that had build up on the wooden floor, but she caught herself on a coat hook in the wall. Drips were steadily falling from the ceiling.

"Great, the house is melting _again_!" Mom said wearily "remind me to call the sprayer when we get home"

She swept her hands in the air gently, trying to manipulate the water, but nothing happened. She stopped, took a deep breath and tried again, more forcefully. The puddle shimmered, but refused to take to the air and float over into the kitchen sink. Kanna watched silently in shock.

"Ge-Get that for me, will you?" Mom said hastily, heading out the door.

Kanna stood silently in front of the door_." What's wrong with mom?_"

The ferry finally reached it's destination at a stop 2 blocks from Noble Spirit high school. Anto, Mitzue and dozens of other passengers exited the boat and entered a small plaza, their places filled immediately by commuters heading further down the line. A bustling metropolis surrounded the plaza. People where crowded everywhere, talking to friends, arguing, laughing, or just heading to work. A crowd near the steps leading up street level surrounded a shop selling hot tea, newspapers and blubber cakes. Tall ice, glass and cement building soured up towards the sky, their gray, ivory and blue surfaces shining in the morning sun. Obnoxious advertisements and neon signs bombarded the busy people below with information. Early-bird tourists stopped to gape at a street performer bending water into fantastic shapes above their heads.

Anto stopped and watched the activities in the plaza, mouth open in awe like a tourist on vacation from some _Iglulik_in the country. The sights, the sounds, the smells. He loved living in the city. Unlike Mitzue who had lived in the city his entire life, Anto never got tired to hustle and bustle the big city, despite having lived 8 of his 16 and a half years in a small, sleepy fishing village in the Water Colonies, were the most exciting thing that happened was the occasional flyby of the fighter jets based at Montka Air Force Base coming back from their patrols. These "air shows" got old surprisingly fast when their engines woke you up every day at 4 in the morning. It was only cold there during the traditional winter months, and Anto missed being able to run around on the beach in shorts and a t-shirt. He remembered when he first moved to Hero City, and how he had to wear a heavy jacket and gloves even during the arctic summer to ward of the chill. But in time, his Water Tribe cold resistance genes kicked in, and he adapted.

Mitzue gave Anto 10 seconds to reminisce instead of the usual 20 before he jarred him out of dreamland.

"Come on" he said impatiently, jabbing Anto in the ribs.

"Oh, heh heh, right" Anto said, scratching the back of his neck in embarrassment.

Mitzue sulked away.

"Hey man, sorry about, you know, on the boat" he said sheepishly.

"Don't worry about it, it's over"

"I know, but I just feel-

"Forget it" Mitzue said firmly. He headed towards the steps, leaving Anto behind. This conversation was over.

Anto caught up with him "so, what was that important thing that you wanted to tell me. The one you couldn't just say over the phone" he asked, trying to improve Mitzue's mood. He assumed it was just another story about a girl he had seen or a date he had gone on, or a great shot he had made in hockey. Something harmless that Mitzue would enjoy bragging about

Instead, Mitzue turned to face him with a strange, uncomfortable look, as if trying to make a difficult decision.

"Well... not now, not…here" he said uncomfortably.

"Uh, Ok, fine, great, later then" Anto said quickly. "_Your just doing great today aren't you" _he thought angrily_ "Just take your boot off and shove it in your mouth"_

Anto and Mitzue were about half way up the stairs from the canal plaza when someone Anto had forgotten to mention approached.

"Mitzue, you rat!" yelled an angry voice from bellow. "When I get my hands on you!"

"Oh, I forgot to tell you-

"I know, just let me handle it" Mitzue said calmly, watching as Kona pushed through the crowd. Mitzue had done theses things many times. Every girl handled breakups differently. Some got all cold and quiet, but gave you evil looks for a year. Some got all pouty and cried on your shoulder. And others, well they got angry.

"How could you ditch me you jerk" she shouted "How could you just leave me at the park! I had to listen to an old man's Pia Sho techniques for _30 minutes_ before I realized that you hadn't really gone to the bathroom!"

(Authors Note: I'm very sorry for what is about to happen, you can safely skip this part if you want)

"Baby, baby I did have to take a leak" he said sympathetically "But when I was on my way there, my Mom called. She needed help at work. Old Lady Gong Ha's cat had kittens, and she needed my help. Neko isn't a spring penguin anymore"

"_Kittens?" _Anto thought, shaking his head. _"Kittens!?. That's the best you could do? Your losing you touch, there's no way she'll believe-_

"Kittens?" Kona said through gritted teeth ("_Here it comes" _Anto thought, cringing"Oh Mitzue!"

Kona broke down balling right there, right in the middle of the busiest ferry station in the city. Bystander who had been watching curiously suddenly hurried off, shooting glances back at the weeping girl, giving the couple a wide berth.

Kona set her head on Mitzue's shoulder and let it all out. Mitzue gave Anto a wink and began to rub her gently rubbed her back.

"There, there" he said "I'm sorry I couldn't come back and tell you, but it was urgent. And honey… I'm afraid this just isn't working. We had a good run, but… I've got a lot going on right now"

"_Fine time to break that to her genius"_ Anto thought "_This is going to get ugly._

Kona peered through crying eyes into Mitzue's understanding ones, before burying her head in his shoulder again, crying even louder. Anto took a step back.

"Oh, why, why?" she moaned, squeezing him in her arms.

"I'm sorry, but with the edict, and my Dad losing his business..."

Kona calmed a bit "I'm sorry, I've been such a pig, so, so… insensitive."

"It's ok; I forgive you" Mitzue said quietly "I'd still like to be can friends, hey how 'bout you come over to my Mom's office later and see the litter. Their adorable"

"O-Ok" Kona said sniffling as she uncoupling herself from Mitzue. "I've got to catch the next ferry to my school" she laughed " Did you know I came all the way out here to kill you?"

Mitzue pretended to laugh too "Oh Kona, you sure are something else"

He reached into his pocket and pulled out a blue banknote.

"Here, get yourself a cocoa"

"Ok" Kona said, previous episode forgotten "I better get going, I'm already going to be late, heh heh, bye"

"Ok, see you later then" Mitzue said, waving to Kona as she departed. "Well, that went well"

(Authors Note- It's over now for those of you who skipped it)

Mitzue unglued his palm from his forehead, where it had been glued for the last few minutes. He could not believe that that girl was the same beast that had manhandled him on the ferry.

"Mitzue… _How do you do it?_ That has to be the worst breakup speech I've ever heard, and trust me, I've heard a lot of crap come out off your mouth" They both began to laugh.

"I know, I didn't even think _that_ would work, but I just wanted to get it out of the way"

"Kittens" Anto said again in disbelief as they headed up the stairs and onto the sidewalk. He began to laugh again. He was both amused and horrified about Mitzue's sudden recovery, and how he had done it.

"You just can't make this stuff up"

"I can apparently" Mitzue said wiping the tears from his eyes.

I'm sorry for how unbearably sappy this chapter was and how long it took to write it. I just wanted to get that thing Kona out of the way. It sounded like a good idea at the time. Anyways this and chapter 5 were supposed to be combined, but I thought it would be better to split them up, since the chapter 5 part isn't finished and what is done is pretty rough. I thought that you readers deserve something for your wait, even something like this. The next chapter, called "Everybody's Hero", will widen your perspective of Anto's world. And yes, Anto and Mitzue will finally get to school. I will try to get chapter 5 fixed up and posted within a week. As you may have realized, I have been writing this by the seat of my pants. Anyways, I apologize again to my handful of faithful readers for the long delays and poor quality of this episode, but I promise to make chapter 5 better.

Oh, about the vocabulary. _Iglulik_is the eskimo-inuit word for "town". A quifoa is/was a causal Chinese dress, which in Anto's universe is considered formal, since most people there wear clothes that are a combination of traditional Oriental garments and modern western or sometimes hybrids of the two, with a parka thrown in for good measure.And Neko in Japanese means cat. Yeah original, I know.


	5. Everybody's Hero

Chapter 5 "Everybody's Hero"

Anto and Mitzue strolled down the crowded street of the city, still laughing over the ridiculous method Mitzue had used to shake a fierce but emotional girlfriend.

"And then you said the kitten thing..." Anto said, clutching the stitches forming in his sides "I was sure she was going to drop you right there, if front of everybody"

Mitzue chuckled "yeah, that was pretty bad… hey; good thing she doesn't got our school, huh?"

"Definitely" Anto said, digging through a trash can for a newspaper. Anto was very into politics, but was too cheap to buy the paper.

"I don't know what I was thinking, going out with her. Even now" Mitzue said as Anto burrowed deeper into the litter bin "I guess I wasn't thinking at all"

'Beer goggles?" suggested Anto, head now literally inside the can.

"No, I can't really explain it, it just felt... predetermined, like someone out there was just writing down my entire life, and needed a way to spice things up."

"That's nonsense" said Anto, surfacing from the trashcan, a slightly soggy newspaper in hand.

"Yeah, I know. So what's happening in the world today?  
"Yesterday, actually" Anto said from behind the paper "oh, the same old liberal media spiel. The Chief's insane, the economy's going down hill, we're all too fat, the sky is falling." he sighed and turned the page "same old same old"

"Anything about my cousins to the west?"

Anto scanned the columns.

"No, surprisingly, the only thing is about how the AA guns are going up all over town"

"Hey Anto" Mitzue said, pointing down the sidewalk "look, it's Ji"

Anto stopped dead in his tracks, face frozen, before turning to glare at Mitzue "Yeah, like I'm gonna fall for that again" Mitzue had been shouting 'Ji' for weeks now, just to see Anto's reaction.

"No, it really is her"

"_Ji"_ said Anto dreamily, before snapping back into the terrified pose.

A few feet ahead of him was the girl whose presence had tormented Anto for years. The person that Anto had always loved, even before he knew it. The person he wanted to grow old with, to die with. Ji. The girl of Anto's dreams.

"Hey, hey, look who it is" taunted the only person that knew Anto's feelings. "Are you going to stand there slack-jawed all day or are you going to propose to her?"

"Shut up" Anto said crossly, suddenly hostile. "You know it's hard enough for me"

"Oh, do me ever" said Mitzue knowingly.

Anto had known Ji since the day he moved to the city. On his very first day in school, it was Ji who had scolded the other children at school who made fun off him and his thick fluffy parka he had to wear before he became used to the cold. They pushed him down and jeered at him. Anto, arms stiff from the cheap fabric, was unable to get up. When his tormentors became bored with picking on him, it was Ji who stayed by his side, helping him up from the cement pavement of the playground, and wiping the dirt from his parka. By the way, the parka had a panda bear pattern. With little ears on the hood.

"Just ignore them, their just stupid" she had said, comforting him.

Out of no where, Anto quickly said "I love you"

Luckily for him, the bell for class rang soon after. He prayed every night that Ji had forgotten that day.

"Look, just go up to her, and… be yourself" Mitzue said

"That's my problem" Anto said glumly "I'll be fine for a while, but then, I'll just say something stupid"

"That's all I can tell you, just be yourself. It's all in your personality, some people don't have it, and- he said smugly "some do"

Anto took a deep breath "ok, let's do this"

Mitzue patted him on the back "Go get 'em stud!"

Anto gave him an evil look, and then headed over towards Ji and the crowd of girls walking with her.

Ji was a shy, quiet girl, who was friends with the "in" group at Noble Spirit. Usually hanging at the edge of the group, she seemed strangely out of place among the giggling girls. Anto knew however, that when she was at home with her friends where she felt comfortable, Ji was a totally different person, a carefree, energetic person with a sense of humor and a love of music. One thing that Anto had begun to notice was that she had her own mind. She didn't do her hair the same way as the other girls or buy the expensive clothes. She wore simple, yet attractive garments, and had her hair in a stylish modification of the traditional southern water tribe ponytail.

Anto approached the clique of girls with the same amount of anxiety his ancestors would have approached a bull seal lion.

He groaned "_why do they have to travel in packs? _He glanced uncertainly back towards Mitzue, who gave him a thumbs up and a huge grin. "Well" Anto said quietly taking another deep breath "here goes nothing"

He ran in front of the group of girls, a crazy grin on his face. "Hey guys, uh, I mean girls" he said.

The girls stopped walking and stared at him in astonishment.

"Hi Anto" said Ji, smiling shyly. The other girls quickly followed her lead.

"Hey"

"Uh, hi Anto"

Anto was nervous, unable to remember anything he had planned on saying.

"Uh, hey" he said nervously, scratching the back of his neck. "Uh...Oh! Leika?" Anto asked to the clique's unofficial leader "when do you leave on vacation to Acusa?"

"Didn't you hear?" said a short girl with long bangs nearly obscuring her face, annoyed "We aren't going, the resort was destroyed in a forest fire. It was all over the news, were going to go to Naha Island instead.

"Oh, sorry to hear that" Anto said. "Wait, isn't Naha in Fire Nation territory?

"Yeah, and?" responded Leika "I'm not going to let some little argument between our stupid leader and their stupid leader ruin my Solstice vacation.

Anto groaned at Leika's ignorant statement "it's so much more then that Leika, were at the brink of _war_ with them!"

Leika was about to retort when Ji suddenly interrupted_  
_"Anto, didn't you used to live near Acusa?" said Ji quickly.

"Uh, yeah, I mean, no, Acusa is on another one of the islands. I'm, from the one with the old air temple thing on it" he said, realizing what he had nearly done.

They began to walk again, the girls talking about what some other girl had said, and who was dating who and other such gossip. Girl stuff. In some unspoken way they seemed to be telling him not to get involved. Anto was happy to oblige. He was content to just stroll along in their wake, ready to put in his two cents when it was required. After all, Anto thought, he couldn't say any more stupid things if he didn't say anything at all. Anto looked back in search of Mitzue, but he was nowhere to be found. He did notice that many of the people on the sidewalk were carrying signs and banners, but for some reason their faces were covered with sheets of plastic. He was about to ask the girls, but before he could, a loud noise filled the air.

Anto screened his eyes from the sun and look up. Flying low over the city floated a colossal airship, 1500 feet long, silver hull gleaming in the sun. Running along the bottom was a long, lozenge-shaped gondola, as large as a hotel, with huge panoramic windows. Countless propellers studded the hull at even intervals, and located near the majestic tail fins were two banks of jet engines. Written proudly along the prow were the characters _Stewardess of the Moon._

The group looked up in awe at the magnificent sight.

"Wow" remarked Leika in awe, neck craned upwards towards the zeppelin. "That's amazing"

"Its more then amazing" said Anto, indulging his inner nerd "that thing is like a flying city. It has rooms for 1500 passengers, a spa, Movie Theater, shopping center, swimming pool, and 5 star restaurants. It's a miracle of engineering. And it's sister ship, the Envoy of the Moon, has-

"Oh, I would give anything to be up there" interrupted Toshi in longing "looking out those huge windows, sipping a smoothie, and being waited on hand and foot, like a princess!"

"I would love to go to that restaurant and try a meal from every part of the world" said Ji.

"Yeah, that would be great" said Anto "but you would get fatter then my gran gran"

Anto realized he had said something wrong the moment it left his mouth. Leika and Toshi glared at him, Ji just looked hurt.

"No, I don't mean that your fat, I mean, you would be fat like… oh, no, I don't mean like your-!"

As if an unspoken command were said, the girls turned and walked away. Anto began after them, but then stopped, frozen in emotional overload for the second time that day.

The crowd flowed around him, paying him no heed. In the sky, the airship continued on its journey to the north. Mitzue reappeared and walked up to him.

"That went well" he said sardonically.

Anto didn't move; face showing not a single emotion.

"Oh, come on" he said, patting him on the back "it's not your fault you forgot that Ji's gran gran died of weight-related heart failure."

Anto still didn't move.

"Well, on second thought, maybe it is, but still, it could have been worse"

Wordlessly, Anto unfroze and ran towards the low barrier separating the canal from the street. He was halfway over before Mitzue caught him.

", Whoa, whoa, slow down there slick, don't go and do anything foolish like that" Mitzue said. "I'll only go so far to save your skin"

"How could I have been so insensitive" Anto spoke for the first time, voice as empty of emotion as his face. "How could I have forgotten, how could I have _been-so-stupid!"_ he said though gritted teeth, pounding his forehead with his palm.

Mitzue calmly pulled Anto's hand away from his forehead and began to pull him down the sidewalk. The school plaza was just in sight.

"Take it easy man, you know what they say-"he counted on his fingers "- ninth tries the charm"

"Yeah" said Anto forlornly "on the bright side, if things don't work out with girls, I could always move to the west coast and start chasing guys"

Mitzue laughed and punched Anto on the shoulder "Ha, Ha, that's the spirit"

Anto, feeling better, laughed as well "yeah, how much worse could I do, you kn- Anto stopped, and surveyed the scene in front of the school.

"Oh great" he said wearily "now what?"

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

_8000 miles away_

Private 1st class Kato wasn't scared.

At least not anymore.

He had found that throughout his life, he had never exactly afraid of doing _anything. _At least, not when it was actually happening. He always got the worrying done ahead of time. But when the rubber hit the road, the chips hit the fan, he was just _numb._

Take his current predicament for example.

6 months earlier, right after he had received his high school diploma, he totally lost all judgment and enlisted. Right on the spot. Throwing away a dozen athletic scholarships to a dozen great universities all over the north pole, he was entranced by the smiling recruiters speech about how he had an obligation, no a _duty_, to defend his country in it's time of need. To avenge the Southern Leagues unprovoked attack on an Alliance vessel full of innocents on there way from the north to the South Pole, to assist their great ally the Earth Kingdom. To take up arms and defend his nation, his people. His Tribe. To become a Warrior. _Warrior. _That was when he was hooked. To become one like the brave Warriors who fought the Fire Nation 200 years ago, or the Pirates 50 years ago. To be like a character in a comic book or on TV. like Bato, or even Sokka.

It took him a week to realize the gravity of the situation he was in, how stupid his decision had been. His parents were furious. His girlfriend left him. He felt like he had been abandoned. This only strengthened his resolve to succeed.

For the last season he had been in a near constant state of fear and regret. But as he progressed through basic training, he was surprised to find that, day by day, the negative emotions began to lessen. At first he took it as a godsend. But as he boarded the plane that would take him and his unit to the war torn Douyan Province in the center of the Earth Kingdom, he discovered that he no longer felt _anything._ At the base in Haojang, his comrades avoided him. They acted strange in his presence. Fortunately, this didn't bother him.

What did bother him was how _detached_ he felt, as if this whole crazy experience was just a dream. No, less then a dream. A movie.

And now he was here. 8000 miles from home, riding in an armored personnel carrier with 4 other warriors on his first combat operation.

It was a cakewalk. His 20 man platoon, Fire team Kodiak, was responsible for guarding a 5 vehicle convoy carrying supplies to a friendly village. The convoy consisted of his APC at the rear, two trucks, two amphibious jeep-like vehicles, and another APC on point. A local had been provided by the Earth Kingdom Intelligence Corps to lead the convoy through the winding roads of the Kangxi Mountains, a dry arid region near the Si Wong Desert.

Kato stood at the back of the open topped vehicle, surveying the land through the slit metal shield of the pintle mounted machinegun. A farmer driving an ostrich-horse cart passed, carrying towering load of hay. Being in the Douyan Province was like being 200 years in the past. People lived in tiny farming villages without running water or power. Motorized vehicles were rare, usually limited to cheap Fire Nation build compacts or sturdy tractors. The area was no stranger to conflict. During the Great War, the Fire Nation had brutally occupied the region; the scars still dotted the landscape. The Earth Kingdom, never having been able to control the entire continent in it's entire (independent) history, had left the tiny impoverished county, tucked in the low, arid mountains to languish, largely free from the bumbling of the Central Government's sprawling bureaucracy. Its isolation had allowed it to escape the watch of time. However, rumor had it that the Last Avatar had learned to earth bend in this region, and major hotel chains were eagerly waiting for an end to the hostilities so they could take advantage of the steadily increasing stream of pilgrims.

Unlike the rest of the occupants, Kato was staying frosty. Or as frosty as was humanly possible in such a hot place. Everyone else was just lounging on top of the huge bags of rice that covered the floor, bored stiff. Ignoring him. _"Good"_ he thought.

"Man, what a hole this place is" complained Private Anju for the umpteenth, picking his teeth with a bayonet and 'just look at this place, scraggly trees, hills and dust for miles. We must be in the armpit of the universe"

"No, your wrong" replied the surly radio operator, Private Ontla, "the armpit of the universe is your tent" Ontla's helmet was covering his face from the sun as he tried to nap.

"No it's not" replied Anju.

"Yes it is, your Mom told me last night" he responded from beneath the helmet.

"Oh screw you!" said Anju angrily, throwing his canteen. It bounced of off Ontla's helmet and flew out of the vehicle, and was crushed by its huge tracks. Ontla removed his helmet and retaliated with a ration can. The can split open, spilling sauce and noodles all over Anju's blue camo tunic.

"Cut it out you two" barked Lt. Kamik "your acting like kids"

"Are not!" said Anju and Ontla simultaneously, hands wrapped around each other's ponytails.

"Are too!" retorted Lt.Kamik.

"All of you shut up" growled the driver, Sergeant Kan.

"You have no authority to be telling me what to do" shouted Lt. Kamik "I'm an officer_ and_ a Bender, and you're just a lowly Sergeant"

"Yes, I am well aware of that _Sir" _spat Kan "but I've been in the service since you were in water wings. I also didn't get my officers commission because my father is chief garbage man of North Capitol"

"_Minister of Sanitation!_" corrected Lt. Kamik. "And will somebody explain to me _why _we need that thing that's making such a racket, it's giving me a headache" he said, rubbing his temples.

He flipped on his radio "Medic Kama, get me an aspirin when we next stop"

"Yes sir, Lt. Kamik" replied a squeaky voice from the radio.

'The APC, that farmers tractor, the thumper, or Anju's ass?" said Ontla sarcastically. Anju farted, grinning sheepishly.

"The thumper, genius" said Lt. Kamik angrily, pointing towards the machine being pulled by the truck ahead of them. The machine was like a small pile driver on a trailer, with three posts that slammed into the ground as the vehicle traveled.

"You know full well, _Lieutenant_, the thumper pounds the dirt, creating an invisible field where earthbending is disrupted. Without it, those League earthbenders might add another rock to the collection in your head. You're lucky you've even got that, when I joined, we didn't have any fancy, smancy thumper. We had to two sticks and a rock for a whole platoon. And we had to share the rock"

A look of recognition crossed Anju's face, and he looked like he was going to say something, but didn't. Lt. Kamik scowled the Sergeant, but said nothing.

"Your all going on report when we get to Haojang" said Lt. Kamik maliciously.

"Sir, that's not fair, we've been traveling for 3 hours doing nothing" whined Anju, scratching the side of his shaved head. "What do you expect us to do? at least we're showing signs of life, not like that corpse on the machine gun"

"Corpse, first class Kato, reporting" Kato said flatly.

"At least he's doing his job" shouted Lt. Kamik. The convoy began to slow down as it came to a bend in the road surrounded by two hills and a ditch. Up ahead, the lead APC began to bellow smoke from its engines. It stopped in the middle of the road, along with the rest of the convoy.

Lt. Kamik stood up and peered ahead. Kan moved ahead and stopped quickly. Lt. Kamik, fell and banged his head on the roof of the drivers compartment, the only covered part of the vehicle. He glared at Kan.

"The clutch jumped" said Kan, a grin on his face.

Lt. Kamik stood up again, and clicked on the radio.

"Why have we stopped? we have to be at the village by 5" he shouted into the radio.

The driver of the lead vehicle responded "sir, the transmission is jammed. These things were meant for storming beaches, not carrying care packages. A rock probably got jammed in the propeller-

"Just fix it!" barked Lt. Kamik, spraying the handset with spit. He sighed "How far away from the village are we"

"According to this map, about 12 _li"_

"What the heck is a _li_?" exasperated Lt. Kamik.

"About 1.6 miles"

"So that is?..." asked Lt. Kamik waiting to know the distance.

"What?" inquired the driver.

"Never mind. Out!" he gave a long, theatrical sigh "Spirits help me, if it's not one thing; it's another, why can't these people just use the standard mile"

"Why don't we use the _li_ like the rest of the world?" replied Kato.

"Just look on the bright side, lieutenant" said Ontla "we're probably going to be going home pretty soon. Things are getting bad with the Fire Nation"

Before Lt. Kamik could respond, he was interrupted by a voice from his radio.

"Sir, should I instruct the men to form a defensive perimeter?" asked Sergeant Jin from a jeep near the front of the convoy.

"No need, no need, Sergeant Jin" purred Lt. Kamik "we'll be the on move again in no time"

"Uh, yes sir. Out" replied Sergeant Jin. "Idiot, that kook is going to get us all killed"" He had forgotten to turn off the radio. "I've got to get out of this outfit"

"Sergeant!" shouted Lt.Kamik "I would like to have a word with you when we get back to Haojang. At the latrines!"

"Sir!" yelped the startled Sergeant Jin. The radio clicked off.

Lt. Kamik slammed his palm into his forehead.

"where the heck is that aspr-

"Right here sir" said a short, slightly pudgy man wearing a wool hat and glasses said, appearing from no where. He looked like he was about 12 years old.

"Right on time, return to your p-

'Yes sir" interrupted the medic, turning on his heels.

Lt. Kamik bended a stream of water from his pouch and into his mouth, along with the pill "now, that is a model soldier."

"He sure is strange though" remarked Kato, watching the child-like man return to his jeep. "Like he can read your mind"

"Yeah…" said Kato slowly.

Medic Raha suddenly dove to the ground. A second later a bullet impacted the dull blue hull of the truck behind him.

The hill to the convoy's right came alive with gunfire.

"Incoming!" shouted Kan.

Bullets pounded the armored hull of the vehicle. Along the convoy, the ambushed unit bailed out of the vehicles and ran towards cover near the opposite ridge, shooting wildly over their shoulder.

Kato jumped over the side and ran towards a nearby boulder for cover, bullets shooting up plumes of dust behind him.

He slid behind the rock, nearly colliding with Anju.

"Cakewalk, they said!" he shouted angrily over the roar of gunfire "No contacts, they said!"

Kato noticed that the rocks had begun were also being hurled at their position. They hurtled towards the withdrawing warriors, but just as they began to approach the road, they fell out the air, landing harmlessly near the side of near the right side of the road, their wielders power's somehow disabled by the thumper. However, some managed to get through, slamming into the side of the abandoned vehicles, leaving cantaloupe-sized indents in the metal.

"We've got to get to that ditch!" shouted Kato calmly, pointing to the position were the rest of the unit was located, now carefully returning fire. "Anju, bend us a shield, I'll cover you!"

Anju wordlessly obeyed, bending a wall of water about 8 feet long towards the ditch. Kato crouched, fired his rifle in full auto towards the nearest muzzle flash, and sprinted towards the ditch. He dove into the gully, face first into ankle-high water. Anju followed close behind, struggling to maintain the integrity of the frozen wall of muddy water. As he neared the ditch, the wall collapsed from the impact of a rock that got past the thumper, shattering the ice shield. Another conked Anju in the helmeted-head, knocking him unconscious.

Kato dragged Anju's limp body through the muddy ditch towards the rest of the unit. Crouched near a fallen log was Ontla, Kan, and a handful of other soldiers, who were returning fire. Medic Raha worked meticulously on a wounded soldier, using tools from his medkit. Nearby lay Sergeant Jin, a sheet draped over his head. A remote part of Kato's mind recognized the irony.

Kato set the KO'd bender near the other wounded, and moved up next to the rest of the warriors.

Kan calmly sprayed fire from his light machinegun, a bandage wrapped around his shoulder. Ontla was both firing his rifle towards the enemy, and desperately trying to raise HQ on his radio. Lt. Kamik lay on his chest, head pressed down to the earth.

"We're done for!" he moaned "game over man, game over!"

Kato slapped him a crossed the face. Kan, Ontla and several nearby soldiers turned to look at him in both shock and admiration.

"Get it together!" he shouted. Kato faced the soldiers"Now that I've got your attention, we need a plan. Any ideas?"

"We need air support ASAP, or we'll be overrun" said Kan, sending a hail of bullets towards the approaching figures.

"I'm trying to raise HQ on the radio, but I'm getting only static" said Ontla, frantic.

"You need to get to a higher altitude" said Kan "the signal is being blocked by that hill. Go up there-he gestured towards a high ridge to the rear- and get us a Deep Freeze, we'll cover you"

"Now wait just a minute!" said a suddenly assertive Lt. Kamik "you're not doing anything without my authority! I say we wait here and hold position!"

"We've only got 8 able bodied men left, we'll be overrun!" shouted Ontla angrily.

"I don't care how many men we have, the Alliance of Polar States combat field manual clearly states that-

Kan unclipped his metal handled blue ball club and knocked Lt. Kamik out cold with a blow to the head. Kan didn't even blink.

"Are you ready, Ontla" he said as if he had not just knocked out his commanding officer.

Ontla looked uncertain.

"Ok, let's do this" he said, face full of determination "cover me!"

As he stood, a rocked slammed into one of the amphibious jeeps. A piece of shrapnel impacted him in the chest, tearing through his Kevlar vest and knocking him from his feet.

Before he even hit the ground, Medic Raha had diagnosed the screaming radio operator.

"He looks bad, but he'll make it" he said, injecting a pain killer into the wounded warrior's wrist "but he's not going anywhere"

The grizzled old soldier now turned to Kato. Kato knew why. He was the only other member of the remaining unit that knew how to use the radio with any degree of proficiency.

He groaned "Ok, give me the frickin radio"

Kan grinned. "That's my boy" he said proudly, handing Kato the heavy radio set.

"Ok, Kan, cover the west" he instructed "Ozu, I want smoke grenades on towards the front. On three!"

"ONE" Kato crouched near the back end of the ditch, searching for a route up the ridge. Not feeling fear.

"TWO" Kato plotted a path through a line of bushes and into the forest. Not afraid to die.

"THREE!" Kato took off, radio strapped to his back. Behind him he heard the cracking of the enemy rifles, and the retort of his comrade's, the groan of Kan's machine gun, and the burp of Ozu's grenade launcher. Smoke billowed into the air, masking his approach. Bullets and rocks zipped past his head. He was almost to the bushes. As he turned to fire his assault rifle, he _saw a bullet zoom towards him_,_ inches from his chest. _Time seemed to slow. He saw the burning trucks of the convoy, flames billowing amazingly slow, smoke floating surrealistically skyward. He saw the charge of numerous coolie-hated League guerillas, bonsai charging, swords raised, guns firing, earth tearing out of the ground. He saw the collision of a bullet into an earthbenders chest, blood spewing into the air, each drop clearly visible, projecting tiny shadows on the dirt.

"_This is it" he thought "you got to be everybody's hero, just like you wanted_"

As the molten piece of lead collided with a grenade on his chest, he felt an emotion for the first time in weeks.

Wow, that's the longest chapter so far. I think it makes up for the delay. I've been in the hospital with a severe fever, and have been unable to write. Of course, I could have, but it would have just been my delirious conversation with the IV stand. Maybe later. And the whole obesity slipup Anto made, I actually made a very similar comment, with similar results.

I have to admit, this was my favorite chapter to write. I've had the concept in my head for a long time.As you can see, I've watched a lot of eighties war movies like Full Metal Jacket and Aliens, along with a few choice other influences.

I hate to try and constrict the readers imagination, but the vehicles I based the amphibious jeep and APC on are the **VBL** and the **AAV-7A1 **respectivaly,the latter of which has an open passenger compartment ( I had pasted Wikipedia links in there, but they didn't show up. Sorry)

Anyways, I want to apologize for the dual cliffhangers I leave you with in this chapter. Rest assured, thought Kato won't die, no matter how much you may want him too.

But you'll just have to wait a bit more for that. I, putting this story on the shelf for a while. I have an idea for a oneshot that should practically write itself. But don't hold your breath; I've been unbelievably busy these past few weeks, with no end in sight to the, um… busyness. But if you want something to hold you over, I suggest you hit Rasputin Zero's epic season three masterpiece, now entering its own part three. Don't let the "season three" put you off, it's easily the best one out there.

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